My inspiration came from Judy at No Fear Entertaining. She had some "happy burgers" with sliced bleu cheese, caramelized onions, and it just seemed to be the perfect dinner for her cute family.

I usually don't get to cook dinner during the week (because I work at night), so lunch is my big meal (as it should be). I started out making the meal all about the burger, but then I wanted fries. And then I decided I had to do balsamic caramelized onions instead of regular caramelized onions....

It really was all about the fries though.

I used my regular hamburger recipe but I put some crumbled bleu cheese in and on top of the raw burger. I've been seeing pre-made burgers sold in the meat department of my grocery store already mixed with cheese or with crumbled cheese on top; So, I decided to try it and see what's up.

I felt like I was a McDonald's employee. Well, I really don't know how they feel, but...

Look at my little caprese garnish LOL

I put the balsamic onions on the side because I didn't want them to detract from the bleu cheese. The cheese was why I made the meal in the 1st place. And no, that isn't one of my homemade buns. It's a bun left over from...before I bought Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. And I don't remember a time before this book entered my life, so...pffft.

complaint mgr: I have never been a big beef eater, but I can't stop buying it and making burgers! It's like I can't get enough of the caramelized, salty, juicy goodness in my mouth! The bleu cheese was friggin' AWESOME! Hafta thank Judy for that idea.

Adam: the key is to use sweet onions like red or vidalia. It really sweetens everything up. Oh, and McDonald's can suck it. I didn't need to add "beef flavoring" for those bad boys!

Judy: No, no...thank YOU for the idea. Really. Fries are my favorite. I love making them. If I could just learn to love oven fries, I'd be OK lol

OK, that's it. Now I'm inspired to not only go home and make cornbread and creole butter during this hurricane we're supposed to get tomorrow but also pick up some bleu cheese, hamburger and make some homemade fries :)

Oh my damn, I hate you so much right now. Why did I read this crap? My mouth is so watering, right now, and I want a burger and fries and not just any burger and fries. I want the one in the picture. Sounds so damn good. I hate you. Seriously, I do.

Jeff: You're right. I don't remember anything before your book. And I don't want to. Aren't you two working on book #2?? (I love how I'm casually commenting with you. This is GREAT!) LOL

Rachel: I still have some balsamic onions from that day in the fridge. I don't know what to use them on. I want their application to be perfect...flawless. I don't want to mess up their sweet, peppery joy.

You know what's interesting is that I made carmelized onions too. I acutally did carmelized onions and peppers in an attempt to make steak tacos - or maybe they were fajitas - who knows - but they were hella good. I had to make a second batch cuz I burned the first one while I was reading blogs - lol.